Greensleeves
by sashsweetie
Summary: A belated piece of J/7 Christmas fluff. Seven gets into the Christmas spirit and decides to drag the Captain along for the ride. Enjoy.


Captain Kathryn Janeway sat in her quarters sipping a cup of coffee and feeling more than slightly sorry for herself. It was Christmas day, and she had nothing going on except for dinner with the senior staff for which she was ruining her appetite by slowly munching her way through a plateful of Christmas cookies Naomi Wildman had thoughtfully dropped off in her Ready Room earlier. Eying the one currently in her hand, Janeway set it back on the plate and pushed the dish out of reach in the hope of stopping herself from eating any more of the sugary treats.

Glumly she looked around at her cheerfully decorated room and sighed. Everyone was off having Christmas fun, and no-one had thought to invite the Captain.

A sudden dinging of her door chime caused her to look up hopefully. "Come in!" she called.

The door opened to reveal Seven of Nine, dressed in a dark green velvet dress which clung in all the right places, her blonde hair curling gently around her shoulders. The Captain could hardly keep her jaw from dropping as Seven proceeded into her quarters carrying a rather large bag. "Good afternoon, Captain." The Borg stated formally, setting her load down and assuming her usual stance just inside the doorway.

"Um…Merry Christmas, Seven." Janeway commented belatedly after regaining her equilibrium to some extent.

"I have been told that it is customary to give gifts to those you care about on Christmas day." The blonde informed her.

"I…I see." Janeway couldn't really come up with anything to say. She'd gotten something for each of the crewmembers she came into contact with on a regular basis, but evidently nothing as elaborate as Seven had created.

"May I sit down?" Seven requested.

Janeway blushed. "I'm sorry. How rude of me! Please." she moved along the couch to make room for Seven. The Borg arranged the bag in front of her as she sat and began to pull items out of it. A bottle of rum was promptly followed by what looked to the Captain like a container of eggnog, a box of cookies, and two perfectly wrapped gifts, all of which Seven arranged very neatly between them on the couch before making her way over to the replicator, ordering two glasses and returning to take the lid off the box of cookies.

"Do you like rum and eggnog?" the she questioned, beginning to remove the top off of the alcoholic drink.

Janeway nodded. "Very much so. Do you?" she asked disbelievingly.

"I don't know yet." Seven poured a measure of rum into each glass. "This will be my first encounter with the beverage."

The Captain inspected her Astrometrics officer. "What inspired all of this, Seven?" she asked quietly.

The woman paused in her preparation of the drinks and looked up at her. "I did not have anyone to spend Christmas with, and you mentioned you didn't have plans." She glanced over at the half-eaten plate of cookies on the table. "Apart from eating an entire platter of Naomi Wildman's ginger cookies, of course."

Janeway couldn't help but chuckle at Seven's deadpan delivery of the jest. "Indeed." She agreed. Seven stirred each drink carefully and handed one to the Captain.

"I hope it is acceptable. I followed the recipe except for a few minor deviations."

"Cheers" the Captain raised her glass and waited until Seven's tentatively met it in mid-air before taking a sip of the creamy liquid. Cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg swirled across her tongue and mixed with the rum to warm her throat deliciously. She grinned. "Seven, its amazing!" she congratulated as the Borg took a careful drink from her own glass.

"It is interesting." The blonde agreed. "More agreeable than I had imagined given the combination of ingredients." She took another sip and then set her glass down on the table. "Would you like to open your gifts?" she questioned, holding a package out to the Captain. "They have to do with our next activity."

Janeway raised a hesitant eyebrow as she took the box from Seven, unwrapping it delicately. The box contained a scarf and mittens in the same colour green as Seven's dress. "What exactly are we doing?" she questioned. Seven responded by placing another box in her lap.

"I learned to ice skate." The blonde informed her as Kathryn discovered a pair of skates inside. "I thought it would be an appropriate activity for us to engage in together."

Janeway chuckled as her grey eyes met surprisingly eager ice-blue ones. "I love to skate." She confided, eliciting a smile. "But first, I need to give you your gift." She climbed from the couch to retrieve a small package from the pile beside her bed. "I hope you'll like it."

Seven carefully unwrapped the delicate paper to reveal a small box. She looked at the Captain in confusion before pulling the lid off. A delicate silver necklace lay on dark blue paper in the middle. "It's a..." Janeway started.

"Celtic knot" Seven finished, picking up the piece of jewellery with careful fingers to examine it more carefully, a slight smile gracing her features.

"I thought you should have something nice." Kathryn explained quietly.

"Thank you" Seven's eyes shined with pleasure. She held out the necklace to the Captain. "Will you put it on for me?"

"Turn around" Janeway instructed, and Seven did so, pulling her hair out of the way. Kathryn settled the necklace around Seven's neck and fastened it. The Borg turned back around and fingered the necklace silently.

"Shall we go ice skating now?" she questioned.

Janeway nodded, smiling. "Absolutely." She tossed the scarf around her neck and gathered up her mittens and skates while Seven pulled another pair out of the bag.

"Who taught you to skate?" Kathryn asked as Seven glided onto the ice as though she'd been skating her whole life.

"Ensign Kim" Seven turned, her green skirt swirling around her. She examined the effect of the dark green gloves and scarf against Janeway's wine-red sweater. "You look very...seasonally appropriate" she commented.

"So do you." The Captain pointed out. "Who picked your outfit?"

"The Doctor." Seven slid away around the pond.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Janeway muttered to herself.

They skated for so long that they were almost late for dinner, but Kathryn was pleasantly surprised at the lack of argument she got from Seven in regard to her attendance as they dropped off their skating gear in her quarters and proceeded towards her Ready Room.

B'Elanna, Tom, and Chakotay were already there, and Janeway smirked as their eyes bugged out in reaction to Seven's appearance. She wasn't the only one affected by the gorgeousness of her Astrometrics officer! Naomi skipped in a moment later to look up at Seven with awe. "You're beautiful!"

Seven looked down at the young girl fondly, taking in her Christmas attire. "And so are you, Naomi Wildman." Naomi blushed slightly before her gaze caught Seven's jewellery.

"Where did you get the necklace?" she questioned suspiciously, hands on her hips as she thought her older friend had left her out of something. Seven's hand flew to the silver design around her neck.

"It was a Christmas gift from Captain Janeway." She explained to the young half-Ktarian, who smiled immediately. She liked the Captain.

"It's very pretty." The girl commented as Harry and Neelix arrived, carrying trays of appetizers.

The Doctor shimmered into view. "Sorry I'm late." He apologised dramatically. "I was singing carols in the Mess Hall and they just wouldn't let me leave!"

Seven rolled her eyes behind his back, causing Janeway to chuckle.

"Don't worry, Doctor. Harry and Neelix just arrived with the food." She assured him.

Dinner proceeded with relative smoothness, and by the time Seven and Janeway were making their way back towards her quarters, the Captain was more than feeling the wine and she suspected Seven was as well by the way the blonde had taken her arm.

"Thank you for spending Christmas with me" Seven said quietly as Kathryn helped gather up her things from around the room.

The Captain smiled. "No, thank you. Honestly, I think it's been the best Christmas I've had on board Voyager."

Seven fingered her necklace gently. "I just…No one has ever thought to give me a gift like this before. They give me useful things – tools. Nobody has ever…" she sighed. "Thank you, Captain."

"Kathryn" the name was out of Janeway's mouth before she even knew it.

"Thank you, _Kathryn_." Seven corrected.

"It was my pleasure." Janeway knew she was flirting but just couldn't seem to stop. "Umm… I'm going to have some tea, would you like some?" Seven shook her head but took a seat on the couch, showing no intention of leaving, so Kathryn made her way over to the replicator to order herself something. "Chamomile tea" Janeway informed the replicator, hoping the drink would help her get some sleep that night. As she opened her mouth to say something to Seven, she heard movement behind her and turned to find herself face to face with the Borg. "Seven? What…"

Seven put a finger to Janeway's lips. "Merry Christmas" she murmured, leaning down and brushing her lips against the Captain's.

Janeway's eyes widened in shock, but then Seven deepened the kiss and she gave in, her tea forgotten in the replicator.

When Seven finally pulled away, it took Kathryn a few moments to regain her breath. "What inspired _that_?" she finally questioned.

"Ethanol lowers inhibitions" Seven stated by way of explanation, her face still extremely close to the Captain's. She looked down into Kathryn's eyes "We've been expressing interest in one another for months, if not longer. I decided to 'make the first move', so to speak. Do you object?" a hint of concern that she may have offended the person she was closest to on Voyager crossed Seven's features.

Kathryn took a moment to ponder the question. "No" she concluded. What Seven said was true – their mutual interest had reached the point where tension often exploded into arguments, often in front of the rest of the crew. "No, I don't"

"Good" Seven entangled her hands in Kathryn's hair and picked up where she had left off.


End file.
